THE FORTUNES OF THE PASQUIERS

A blend of fatalism, poetic dreaming, story telling --difficult to identify as a novel, although so classed by the publishers. Written in the first person as the autobiography of a sensitive adolescent, told restrospectively in old age. The family scene is important, with the threads spun by the father, and the years of growing up told through incidents and the boy's reactions. Though there are many fine bits of writing, the story itself fails to grip one. Limited in appeal, I am afraid. Sell to those who like family chronicles.